For what it's worth, they've maintained the quality. This place is nothing short of FUCKING AWESOME. I've never been to NY, but if this is a sample, I'm moving there when my lease is up.

I figured there'd be a line out the door by now, but apparently hardly anyone has sampled the goods. Seriously, this is the best breakfast option around here. I just wish they were open past three. It's that good. If you haven't eaten there, you are a masochist, and I pity your self-hatred.

i saw that they are now open on sundays, which is awesome and proper.
better still would be if they were open at night, but truthfully, there aren't many bagel bakeries in new york that do that anymore

While there this morning for some breakfast goodies (be sure to try the pineapple mint juice, which Joe informed me was perfected by one of his hottie underlings), Joe asked if I "blog". After being confused for a bit I told him I was TAsunder. He seemed ok with that and a bit excited. He quoted some of what I posted here verbatim!

I think I will have to move to another state and change my name now.

It's a good thing it wasn't the owner of Sardine or Tutto on State St.

i was there yesterday morning buying four dozen for a brunch party. i also scored a bacon egg and cheese sandwich for the ride home. the sandwich was superb, as were the four dozen. people at the party were amazed by the bagels.

While there this morning for some breakfast goodies (be sure to try the pineapple mint juice, which Joe informed me was perfected by one of his hottie underlings), Joe asked if I "blog". After being confused for a bit I told him I was TAsunder. He seemed ok with that and a bit excited. He quoted some of what I posted here verbatim!

I think I will have to move to another state and change my name now.

It's a good thing it wasn't the owner of Sardine or Tutto on State St.

Same thing happened to me the first time I met the brewmaster at one of the local breweries, though he knew me through my posts on another site. It was pretty amusing.

BTW, do they still have the cranberry-lavendar juice? Oh, was that good. I love the fun twists they do on juice. Smart.

I also posted this on Yelp, so apologies to those who read both sites.

That said...

I'm a native New Yorker and can be quite high-maintenance when it comes to a bagel shop, so you may want to take this review with a grain of salt. Or it may give you insight. Either way...

The bagels themselves are awesome. Barring visits back home and care packages my mother sends, I seriously have not had a bagel this good since I moved to Wisconsin 9 years ago. They even have salt bagels, which can be hard to find.

Gotham is WAY overpriced compared to what I'm used to in a normal NYC or Long Island bagel shop. I was absolutely shocked at the prices. To give a few examples:

--The Williamsburg is $9.50 at Gotham vs. $5.69 for the equivalent in NY. And both places use Boar's Head meats, so that's not the issue. The amount of meat is definitely not the issue, either. You get more in NY.

--My favorite, a sesame bagel with scallion cream cheese, is $3.00 at Gotham, vs. $2.16 for the equivalent in NY. And I shouldn't even say "equivalent," because the amount of cream cheese a real NYC or LI bagel shop will put on a bagel puts Gotham to shame - so at Gotham, you pay more for less.

--For a bagel with plain cream cheese and a 12oz. coffee, you'll pay a total of $3.75 vs. the $2.07 breakfast special in NY.

--The flavored cream cheeses (particularly the scallion) are a little runny and also quite overpriced - $6.25 for 8oz vs about $3.60 in NY. Granted, it's made from "premium artisanal" cream cheese, but there's just not enough of a taste difference to justify the price difference. They have the flavor absolutely nailed, but for that price, I'll make my own.

--Any self-respecting bagel shop in NY trying to charge $9.50 a dozen will throw in at least 6 bagels free, sometimes more. The one my mom frequents does buy-a-dozen-get-six for $7.95, and buy-a-dozen-get-a-dozen on Sundays.

--And come on - $3.00 for a cup of fresh-squeezed OJ? $1.50 for a can of soda? Try a $1.39 pint of Tropicana or YooHoo or a 75-cent can of soda.

The day my husband and I went in together, we spent a grand total of $40 for items what would have cost around $25 total at a shop on Long Island. And to top it all off, I ordered another container of cream cheese to go before we left, and the girl behind the counter took the orders of at least 4 more people before she got my container of cream cheese. That would NOT have flown in NY. I've been told that the owner was born on Long Island and raised in Brooklyn. If this is true, he needs to get back to his roots and stop gouging his customers.

Despite the drawbacks, the bagels will bring me back - but only as an occasional treat. If you're a native NYer like I am, you'll fall in love with the bagels, but the prices are just crap.

Beenie wrote:The day my husband and I went in together, we spent a grand total of $40 for items what would have cost around $25 total at a shop on Long Island. And to top it all off, I ordered another container of cream cheese to go before we left, and the girl behind the counter took the orders of at least 4 more people before she got my container of cream cheese. That would NOT have flown in NY. I've been told that the owner was born on Long Island and raised in Brooklyn. If this is true, he needs to get back to his roots and stop gouging his customers.

I don't really buy the argument-its comparing apples and oranges: NYC is like the world capital of Bagels-so its basic economics that they would be relatively cheap there given the competition.

Gotham on the other hand, is trying to do a Handcrafted, Gormet thing in a high rent district. Typically one pays more for things like Micro-brewed beer or Artisanal Cheese...it just goes with the territory.

I agree that Gotham's cream cheese is maybe a little too real-so to speak...I prefer the Philly bright pink salmon flavored stuff-I can only imagine the heads, fins, and sweepings that are deemed "cream cheese grade"

GenieU wrote:Gotham on the other hand, is trying to do a Handcrafted, Gormet thing in a high rent district. Typically one pays more for things like Micro-brewed beer or Artisanal Cheese...it just goes with the territory.

Those bagels aren't gourmet anything. They are the exact same bagels one would find in NY, where they're also typically made fresh, on-site, all day (so "handcrafted" doesn't hold any weight with me). And high-rent? You want to talk high-rent? High-rent for Madison, maybe, but compared to its NY brethren, there's no contest. Good thing for them they ARE the only gig in town when it comes to genuine bagels, because they'd either have to lower their prices (and still make money anyway) or go out of business.

Paco wrote:Handcrafted gourmet bagels?Oy vey.

Like I said, I'll go back for the bagels. I may even go in for a sesame with scallion if I'm in a rush. But buying just about anything else there is a waste of money.

Back in summer when I first checked them out, they had a different soup every day, meat and vegetarian. Now that it's actually soup weather, they've dropped most of their soups and had no vegetarian soup when I visited last. I'm very disappointed. And yeah, they're way overpriced.

square wrote:Back in summer when I first checked them out, they had a different soup every day, meat and vegetarian. Now that it's actually soup weather, they've dropped most of their soups and had no vegetarian soup when I visited last. I'm very disappointed. And yeah, they're way overpriced.

Their menu change is worrisome. The Montauk (clam) and Amagansett (soft-shell crab) sandwiches are gone, as are the aforementioned soups. In their place are a bunch of low-degree of difficulty options, with mundane ingredients.

I hope they're doing okay, financially. The moves are indicative of a business that got in over its head, or beyond its patronage, with expensive ingredients and is cost-cutting to save itself.

TOTAL CONJECTURE, of course. I love Gotham, and don't want them to go anywhere.